Thank God for Dirty Dishes

 

A woman was hosting a dinner party, and at the table she asked her six year-

old daughter to say grace. “But, I don’t know what to say,” the girl
responded. “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” replied the mother. The little
girl nodded, bowed her head, and prayed, “Dear Lord, why in the world did I
invite all these people to dinner?”

I think many of us can identify with that mother. The routine of cleaning

and readying our home and the meal saps our energy from things that bring us joy. The pressure mounts, and we get frustrated. We get tired and irritable. We look around at the demands on us, and say, “Oh Lord, why in the world is this on my shoulders?”

     I wonder if Jesus felt that kind of pressure. Everywhere he went, crowds

pressed in on him, demanding his attention. Today’s passage tells the story of
Jesus leaving the crowds behind to find some time alone. The first 10 verses set the stage for us. Jesus and his disciples are in the midst of their great Galilean ministry. In the midst of this ministry, Jesus takes his disciples apart for a break. But, as we heard, the crowd follows Jesus anyway—and it was a large crowd at that.  Then Jesus, testing Phillip, challenges him with a question: “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”  This is important, because it tells us that we are to identify, not with Jesus, but with Phillip in this story. Jesus knew the miracle that was coming, just as he knows what’s coming for each one of us every day. That’s his divine right as the Son of God. But it’s not our privilege. We are like Phillip, faced with crowds and asked sometimes what seem to be impossible-to-answer questions. In response to Jesus’ question, Phillip despairs.  “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” Then Andrew appears and tells them that he has found a small boy who is willing to basically share his lunch: five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s all he has, so Andrew despairs, too, saying, “What are these among so many?”  And now Jesus teaches them—and us--a lesson. He instructs the disciples to direct the crowds to sit. What do you think the people were thinking at that moment? Perhaps a hush fell over the crowd as they nestled in the grass fixing their eyes on Jesus.  Listen to what John says next:  “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them….”   Not:  Jesus took the food and blessed it; or prayed over it, but that he took it and gave thanks. This may seem like an insignificant detail, but John gives us a clue that something more important is going on here. Later in John’s gospel we read: “Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.”  Note that John didn’t say “near the place where the Lord miraculously fed the 5000;” or “near the place where the Lord worked a great wonder,” but “near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.” And so it seems that what was important to John about this event was not the supernatural feeding, but rather the lesson that Jesus taught about thanksgiving.

     Lets take a look at a couple principles of thanksgiving. First, the obvious: be thankful for what you have. Jesus gives thanks for the five loaves and two fish. The miracle hasn’t happened yet, so he’s not thanking God after having fed the 5000. He offers thanksgiving for the blessing that is at hand. Jesus knows full well what is going to come, but his disciples and the watching crowd don’t. All they see is Jesus offering thanks for a meager meal.  Often times in our own lives we encounter discontented people. You know who I’m talking about. You ask them how they’re doing and they say, “You won’t believe what happened to me today…” and then go on to tell you all of the bad things going on in their life. Or when you go out to eat, and ask them how they like their meal, and they have to tell you about the place that does it better. You ask them about their work, and it starts a complaint session on office politics. The sad thing is, their attitude can rub off on us.  Then we’re the ones with a case of criticisms; infected with the “if only’s.” “If only I had this…” “If only he would do that...”

     These days, it is so easy to be discontented with the world in general, and our lives in particular.  But Jesus calls us to be thankful for what we have. Be thankful that you have a roof over your head. Be thankful for the people God has brought into your life. Don’t worry that they’re flawed, because we all are.  Be thankful for the food on your plate each day. We should even be thankful for the challenges that force us to grow. One of our friends has a sign on her kitchen sink that says: “Be thankful for dirty dishes.” (we don’t have that sign in our house, by the way)  So the first lesson we can learn from today’s Gospel is to just be thankful for what we have.

     But being thankful is not enough.  Not only should we be thankful for what we have, but we should realize that gratitude is more action than emotion. What does that mean?  It means we should express our thankfulness, and not keep it to ourselves.  I remember when I was growing up, my mom would always make me write thank-you notes when people gave me gifts.  I didn’t like that at all. But mom was trying to teach me that an expression of gratitude is important. Saying “thank you” is not only good manners, it’s the right thing to do.  So often our prayers are characterized by requests, when really they should be characterized by praise and thanksgiving. The very act of expressing

thankfulness makes us more aware of the blessings that we receive.

     In addition to the principle of thankfulness, there is a principle of

abundance in the Gospel today. There’s not a hard connection between the two. The abundance is not a direct result of the thankfulness. It’s not some kind of formula. Rather, we receive abundantly through God’s good pleasure, and the abundant blessing
comes in his own time. A few observations about the principle of abundance:
First, God’s abundance comes in unexpected ways. None of the gospel
writers gives us any idea how the miracle in today’s gospel actually happened.    Have you ever thought about it?   Did the food miraculously reconstitute itself as it was passed around? Did it stretch as each person tore off a hunk? Was it placed in baskets that suddenly filled to the rim? We simply don’t know. We can be sure that it was unexpected. Certainly the disciples didn’t see it coming. We saw this same truth when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana. When Jesus provides abundantly, he often does so through unexpected means. Our challenge then is to keep our minds open enough to receive the abundant blessing when it comes.

Another important fact is that God’s abundance is not to be wasted. Notice Jesus’ instruction in today’s Gospel. He tells his disciples to gather up the fragments that nothing might be wasted. That is a fundamental principle of abundance: not wasting what you have. There is a sense of good stewardship involved here. We have been given abundant blessing, and God calls us to be wise in our use of the blessing, whether it is of time, talent, or treasure.

    Jesus is the source of all that is good in our lives.  There’s nothing wrong with asking him to help us in trying times.  But we must never forget to be grateful for his many blessings in our lives—our families, our friends, our jobs, our FAITH.  So today, when we “pause to add our own intentions,”  along with whatever we seek in the silence of our hearts, let’s all—every one of us—recall how he’s blessed us and showered us with his grace and mercy and love, and say:  Thank you, God.